Archive for February 2007

One of the unfortunate facts of life for those of us who like Asian girls is that Asian parents are not usually all that keen on the idea of their daughter dating a foreigner. So it’s usually a well-kept secret. And when the secret gets out, the shit hits the fan:

When I come to Korea I often stay with HH. Unlike most unmarried Korean girls HH lives alone and so there are no parents to dodge. But like all good Korean girls she can’t let her mum know that she is letting an evil pegin (white guy) stay at her house.

During the week HH leaves early for work while I laze about, go and get something to eat and eventually use her computer to do some blogging and/or work. But today her mum decided to pay her a surprise visit and much to her surprise she found me at the house! Opps.

Now there’s trouble. Mum is angry at HH and I have been banished until peace can be restored. So now that my plans for a peaceful and relaxing couple of weeks have been disrupted I have to find a new place to stay and a new plan.

Perhaps John’s new plan should be getting the hell out of Korea before the racial purity police come knocking on his door. Or this guy.

Here’s a short list of things that have been banned at sporting events since I have been a sports fan:

1:) Full-strength beer. (However, it is still acceptable to sell 5% alcohol mixed drinks like Johnny Walker + Coke Cans, presumably because stadiums refuse to give up the ridiculous profits from that stuff).

2.) Smoking

3.) Balls of any kind

4.) Streaking

5.) Entering the playing arena for any reason (kids at the cricket used to jump the fence to field boundaries all the time)

6.) Musical Instruments (And yet, every time Australia plays in the Carribbean, we get to hear the commentators gushing about the great “festival atmosphere” from the steel-drum bands.)

7.) The Mexican Wave

Who is asking for these changes? It certainly isn’t the cricket fans. The Barmy Army trumpeter is probably the least annoying part of the Barmy Army. At least you can’t hear his stupid accent when he’s playing the trumpet.

If the batsmen were the ones complaining about the trumpet I could understand, but all the players LOVE the Barmy Army trumpeter. And the fans. And everyone, it seems, except the stadium managers.

Why? Because when you give someone a little bit of power, they always lust for more. Even if that power is only over a few cricket fans, the most common trait shared by those in positions of authority is the absolute glee they take in shitting all over those they have power over.

Cricket Authorities banned the Barmy Army trumpeter and the Mexican wave for one reason: Because they can. And making other people sad makes the power-junkies happy.(more…)

Sydney taxi-blogger Adrian Neylan has given up trying to defend his corrupt industry from reason:

Okay Yobbo, enough of your rubbish. No longer can you use Cablog to indulge in willful supposition, post sneering comments or twist my words to suit your own agenda. This constant negative attitude towards myself, other cabbies and the industry has become infantile and boring.

You want to change taxi industry policy ? Campaign somewhere else until you learn basic comprehension and honest debate. Congratulations on being Cablog’s first sin-binned commentor. All comments using the name ‘Yobbo’ are blocked for thirty days.

The comment that broke the cabbies back?

Whatever Lee. I have maintained a long-standing opposition to taxi regulation since before Adrian even started this blog, as he can tell you.

Yes, the taxi and hire car industry is regulated. Whether one agrees with regulation or not that’s the way it is.

Obviously not many people do Adrian, or the touts would be wasting their time.

It’s not good enough to just say “This is what the legislation says so this is the best way”. Not all laws are made with the intention of being beneficial. This legislation is purely in place to protect the profits of taxi-plate owners, a considerably powerful lobby group in most Australian states.

And the people who are harmed by it are the 99.9% of the general public who do not drive taxis.

I may be some sort of far-right radical, but I don’t believe in laws that advantage 0.01% of the population to the detriment of the other 99.9%.